A man who said his wife was injured in a car crash after he beat her for several hours has admitted his guilt and has been sentenced to prison.

Travis Sentell Williams, 37, of Greenwood, pleaded guilty Monday to domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature.

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Williams' criminal history started when he was 17 and included multiple convictions for domestic violence, Eighth Circuit Solicitor David M. Stumbo said.

Williams’ sister-in-law called the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office on Aug. 22, 2016, to ask deputies to check on her sister because she had not heard from her for some time.

When a deputy asked Williams about his wife, he claimed she was in the hospital due to severe injuries she got in a car accident. He told the deputy she was at a hospital on a ventilator and was soon to have surgery, a police report said.

Williams asked the deputy not to tell his wife’s sister since she would likely think that he caused the injuries, the deputy.

The deputy found Williams’ wife in the hospital. She was so badly injured, she was unable to speak, so she gave deputies a written statement.

She told deputies she and her husband were at the Ideal Motel on Aug. 17, 2016, when he became violent after drinking and choked her until she was unconscious. She said he later punched her in the face repeatedly. When she looked at her face and realized how badly she was injured, she asked her husband to take her to the hospital.

Williams instead took his wife to his grandmother’s home and told her that his wife had been in a car accident, according to the report. Investigators said Williams’ grandmother told him to take her to the Laurens County Hospital and she agreed to say his wife had been in a car accident.

Williams was arrested a short time later.

He was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Monday.

“My office has absolutely zero tolerance for men like Travis Williams, who abuse the very women they are supposed to protect,” Stumbo said after the sentencing. “This conviction and lengthy prison sentence continues to send the message to our state that we will no longer tolerate cowards who abuse women and children, and we will continue to fight for the victims of this abuse as long as we have the power to do so.”